WTO the global trading system

1
WTO the global trading system

• Knut R. Sørlie, Assistant Director
• 28 August 2007
• Russian delegation presidential initiative

2
WTO - background

• Built on GATT (1948), established in 1995
• 151 member countries Secretariat in Geneva
• Member-driven organisation cooperation between
  states/governments
• The power is in the committee-structure, where
  civil servants from the member countries are
  participating
• Decisions based on consensus

3
What is WTO doing (I)?

• WTO is administering the existing agreements
• WTO is a forum for negotiations of new trade
  rules and liberalisation of the world trade
• WTO has a dispute settlement instrument to solve
  trade conflicts between member states

4
What is WTO doing (II)?

• WTO is regularly doing Trade Policy Reviews of
  individual members
• WTO assists in technical assistance and capacity
  building programmes for developing countries
• WTO co-operate with other global institutions

5
WTOs Basic Principles

• WTO should secure non-discrimination through two
  set of principles
• Most Favoured Nation (MFN-principle)
• (non-discrimination between countries)
• National Treatment (NT-principle)
• (non-discrimination between national and
  foreign
• companies/products/services

6
What is WTO covering?

• Trade in industrial goods (GATT)
• Trade in services (GATS) from 1995
• Trade in agriculture (AoA) from 1995
• Intellectual property rights (TRIPS) from 1995
• In addition underlying specific agreements on
  anti-dumping, subsidies, technical barriers to
  trade, veterinary and phytosanitary rules, import
  licensing, customs valuation etc

7
What shall WTO prevent?

• Unpredictable rules - there is a commitment for
  binding rules in the WTO
• Discrimination through the principles MFN and
  NT
• Protectionism through progressive
  liberalisation via negotiations
• Abuse of the big traders power through the
  rules-based system and a dispute settlement
  instrument

8
The ongoing trade negotiations the Doha round
is controversial

• Started in November 2001 in Doha, Qatar called
  a developing round
• Aiming at reforming the trading system in order
  to take better into account the interests of the
  developing countries
• Many different groupings of members with
  different interests on the different negotiating
  topics
• Bigger cuts in tariffs and subsidies than
  previous trading rounds not least in agriculture,
  but also for trade in industrial goods

9
What is the negotiations about?

• Market access for industrial products/fish (NAMA)
  
• Agriculture reductions of domestic subsidies,
  export support and tariffs
• Liberalisation of services in all modes of supply
  (cross-border, consumption abroad, establishment
  and temporary movement of persons)

10
What is the negotiations about (II)?

• Reform of rules on antidumping and subsidies
• Trade facilitation (the movement of goods across
  borders)
• And some other minor issues

11
Challenges for the WTO

• Most important how to secure a successful
  conclusion of the Round
• How to strengthen the policing of the bilateral
  free trade agreements (FTA) which can erode the
  non-discrimination principle in the long run
• The development role of WTO
• The functioning of the dispute instrument

12
Challenges for the WTO

• Accession of new members, most importantly,
  Russia
• The coherence agenda (WTOs role vis-à-vis other
  global institutions)
• The agenda for future negotiations the
  broadening of the trade agenda